Golden Brown

[Kiber Dorn]

Kiber stood entranced by the hot deli cabinet, seeking out a selection of once frozen pies, sausage rolls and various other pastry products. Reheated to perfection, bon appetit.

Life was so full of precarious choices.

Curried bantha pasty? Macaroni pie? Vague meat hot dog? It all sounded so tempting, y'know in that clog the toilet the next day kind of way. Cheap and cheerful food for the soul, he could just stand and bask in the out-of-the-box ambience.

“Put it back, Tyler!”

Ambience gone.

“BUT I WANT IT, MOM!”

Ambience definitely gone.

Cue a small child in with his mother, must be her first child, she's trying so hard to say no. The aforementioned monstrous cherub stomped his feet and continued to wave the booster deck of Smashball Allstars. Collector's cards. What a scam, Kiber only wished that he had thought of them first.

“You are not getting them, and that is final!”

“MOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM!”

Kiber turned his head slowly, almost venomously to stare daggers at the scene before him. He of course hated children, he hated the concept of children, he hated the reality of children. Shit, piss and responsibility. Kark that. Kark that about three times over with a pint of heavy on the side.

He made his choice, grabbing two hot dog out of the cabinet and made his way to the clerk (who would be noted was also not enjoying dearest Tyler's wailing). On his way past pint-sized he snatched the booster deck straight out the child's grubby little hand.

Kiber Dorn; good Samaritan?

Credits were exchanged and goods were purchased, the small corner shop business moved on and the pointy-faced man turned back to the child. He considered the pack of cards in his hand, seeing the hopeful glimmer of the child's eyes in the background of his vision.

He then proceeded to open the pack for himself and inspected the contents. The scene turned deathly silent. The growling visage of a particularly butch looking woman confronted him immediately, a shiny hologram surrounding her burly features. She wore a gum shield that was styled like real teeth, only with the front two knocked out. Lovely lady. High defence stats. Could be a rare one.

Lois 'Studs Up' Pnossim, captain of the Nar Shaddaa Nasties.

“Neat,” he said to himself, before striding off with his skinny legs, leaving young Tyler to learn that the world was full of disappointment. He smirked to himself as he heard the child begin to cry crocodile tears, the mother screaming at his back for leaving her with that monster and the clerk's telepathic message of mirthful thanks.

From there he lurked outside of the convenience store, taking a pack of vipers out of his pocket and lighting one. He kept the food underarm and lurked, waiting for his contactee.

[member="Khaleel Malvern"]

 

[Arage Bao]

[member="Kiber Dorn"]

Didn’t know anything ‘bout no kids, wasn’t my spiel, wasn’t my dig. Didn’t mean I didn’t hear the tramp scream at her brood as I stepped up next to my guy, man. Know I understand why some guys decide to cut their tubes, ya never wanna be stuck with that sort of hellspawn. Anyway. My guy. Didn’t know him all too well, contact person, small dealer around town, nothing too fancy.

But he had a guy, and that was what I was looking for. Got a buyer, classy guy, real fancy and shet. Needed some spice to eh.. spice up his life, hehehe. So yeah, immediately set out to find a large enough shipment.

Enter Dorn here.

He’s supposed to bridge the gap between myself and Ringo, let me tell ya immediately. Ringo ain’t from around, used to cut and deal for the lesser Sith. Dangerous business and ya gotta be a class A idiot to mix with ‘em, not my problem tho.

This should be easy. Get in. Buy the crap. Get out. Sell. ???. Profit the feth outta it.

‘Dee.’

Didnt say his name out loud, no need. Initials would be enough for now.

 

[Kiber Dorn]

Kiber was never straight down to business.

He liked to socialise, not so much to make friends but to at least have fun while on the job. Didn't hurt to chat up a bit, y'know? He hated dealing to the quiet space-cases that came in, shifty-as-you-like hunched over with their hands out, credits ready, exchange and run.

It always looked so obvious. Conversation made things natural, less suspicious. You could learn about the lives that you were ruining.

Long inhale, these were just the standard Vipers, just tabac, no frills so when you smoked 'em they didn't have the kick that the others did. Needed a harder drag to fill your lungs to what toxicity they were used to.

The smoke flowed from his nostrils, the laziest dragon, as he was approached by the man he was supposed to meet.

From his underarm came the (thankfully wrapped) hot dogs, and he handed one to his contact. You seen how skinny Kiber is? You think both of those were for him? I don't think so, sir. A slippery smile crossed his oh-so-punchable features.

“Yo, got you a dog, man,” he said with his usually pick and mix of galactic slang, unwrapping his own hot dog and taking a savoury first bite.

[member="Khaleel Malvern"]

 

[Arage Bao]

[member="Kiber Dorn"]

Ponder the extended dog for a while, not that I ain’t a fan of meat on the job, but ya gotta understand. Few of us were savory in this business, honor, honesty, a fair fight - few of us really digged that sort of tune. Never really thought myself paranoid, but people have been trying to kill me for a while now, ain’t easy hosting Jimmy’s in the middle of enemy gang territory.

Took the thing anyway, I trusted him for the contact, offering me poison in the middle of the streets didn’t seem to be all that smart anyway. Big bite right away, munched a bit, and finally an arch eyebrow.

This wasn’t all that bad.

Heh.

‘Good stuff.’ I finally managed to say between bites. ‘Whatcha got there?’ was referencing to the card, barely noticeable sticking outta his pocket.

 

[Kiber Dorn]

Kiber was content to stand and just chow down on his dog. Nothing like convenience store junk food to brighten one's day. All the colourings, chemicals and mechanically removed meat. Filled a hole, creature comforts to those who lived life on the streets.

With one hand on his smoke, the other on his hot dog he had none to show off his new card, and he was definitely planning on showing it off.

The viper cigarette went, flicked in the direction of the bin, hitting the rim and landing upon the ground. Thankfully Nar Shaddaa wasn't a place that was hard on littering fines. Could you imagine if it was? They'd be sweeping people off the streets!

“Smashball Allstar's card, innit,” he said through a mouthful of questionable meat. He hadn't actually checked the rest of the deck, maybe he'd gotten a less frightening face. Maybe even a certified hotty. Playing for the Nar Shaddaa team with a nickname like 'Studs Up' didn't exactly speak of a gentle femininity.

Now with a free hand Kiber plucked Lois from his pocket and offered it to today's partner in crime. “Don't actually collect 'em, maybe she's a rare one, eh?”

[member="Khaleel Malvern"]

 

[Arage Bao]

[member="Kiber Dorn"]

Took my time checking out the card, I wasn’t really all that interested in truth to be told. Doubted there was a market in smuggling cards in my free time, though I did hear some of the rare ones were worth hella lot money, but faking ‘em would be difficult. Simply because the demand was small and people would be extra edgy about these sort of things. Tight communities, small worlds, all that jazz. It ain’t got the money in it like… say… counterfeiting creds, now that would be a real doozy. Gotta see if I can find someone who can pull it off.

Anyway, had been holding on to the card long enough, before the guy got too fidgety about it I gave it back and gave him a nod. ‘Looks solid to me, not my thing tho.’

Casted a glance to the streets, just people strolling around doing their own thing, normal day.

‘How’s the dog.’ took another bite, munched it a bit. Meat grinded to a pulp underneath the onslaught of teeth biting down. There was an analogy in there, even if I couldn’t quite get it right now.

 

[Kiber Dorn]

He took the card back, giving the fearsome Lois a farewell glance before shoving her back into her pocket. Kiber had to admit he liked the sound of the team. The Nar Shaddaa Nasties? It was bold, it was honest, he liked the blunt honestly. Lianna didn't have a team in the major leagues but his second home of Coruscant did.

Coruscant Comets, what a lacklustre name. Almost enough to make the eyes roll out of the skull. I mean, what's a comet right? A space rock? How about the Corsuscant Borings? Kiber quietly disposed of that quip into his mental incinerator, it wasn't very clever.

The name just didn't inspire, not like Nasties. You know what you're getting there. Nastiness. Could picture the crunching tackles. Made his inner-soul smirk.

With a grand amount of grace, Kiber let the rest of the hotdog almost slide down his throat, giving off some of the most uncomfortable phallic imagery possible. Even the way that he ate was grating to the general public. Good. He liked the thought of being grating, it was a good way to leave an impression upon the memories of others.

“Iff goof,” the scraggy man responded with a mouthful of aforementioned dog. He offered a thumbs up just in case the translation didn't make it through.

He kept the masticated hot dog in his mouth for sometime, it always seemed like an age when you were waiting for somebody to empty their maws so that they could speak further. Important to chew your food though, saves you hassle later on, y'know.

“You ready, mate?”

[member="Khaleel Malvern"]